HOMECOMING TENT PARTY

BG News Tent Party Has Become
a Homecoming Tradition for Alumni

The BG News’ annual Homecoming Tent Party began in 2002 as part of a large alumni reunion held on campus earlier that day. Little did longtime and now retired BG News adviser Bob Bortel know that the tent gathering would still be alive and well two decades later.

After a year off in 2003, the Tent Party resumed in 2004 as Bortel and The BG News began to drum up support for the newspaper’s 85th anniversary celebration a year later. The Homecoming Tent Party ran consecutively until 2020, when The BG News’ 100th anniversary celebration was postponed due to COVID. It took place a year later and was followed by the traditional tent gathering in September 2022.

“When we decided to keep it going, we realized that the tent was becoming a touchpoint for alumni to come back to campus for Homecoming and to renew friendships — to have a destination, a place to go,” Bortel said.

Whereas The BG News was among only a handful of Homecoming tents in 2002, a grouping of 15 to 20 tents from various campus organizations dwarf Doyt Perry Stadium on Homecoming Saturday each fall. Over the past few years, the Tent Party has been co-sponsored by BGSU’s School of Media and Communication and BG Falcon Media.

Of the large attendance at The BG News Homecoming Tent gatherings over the past two decades, Bortel said it is a “testament to the indelible memories and experiences developed through the years by students at The BG News.”